Matthew 27:1-10
Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took
counsel against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away, and
delivered Him up to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw
that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to
the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But
they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" And he threw the pieces of
silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. And the
chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to put them into
the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood." And they counseled together and
with the money bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers. For this
reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then that which was
spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, "and they took the thirty
pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel;
and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me."

Our text begins with a brief word concerning the trial of Jesus Christ.
These verses are really a continuation of the story from verse 68 of chapter 26, where
the religious leaders had just found Jesus guilty of blasphemy. But, Matthew interrupts
his account of the trial to tell of the Peter's denials, which took place in the wee
hours of the night. In verse 1, we find out that it was morning. Apparently, the court
broke session and all of the chief priests and the elders went home for a few hours of
rest. But they reconvened early in the morning to officially pronounce the guilty
sentence. However, being under Roman rule, the Jews were not permitted by law to put
anybody to death. Their worst criminals had to be brought before the Romans, who would
decide their fate. It was only when the Romans found them guilty and worthy of death
that they would be executed for their crimes. And so, in verse 2 we find Jesus being
bound and led away to Pontius Pilate, who alone could decide the fate of Jesus.

Before the Roman trial began, Matthew inserts the story of how Judas
responded to the outcome of the trial. Judas experienced what is called, "Worldly
Sorrow." It is a sorrow that feels the pain of sin. It is a sorrow that confesses the
guilt of sin. It is a sorrow that makes efforts to remove the consequences of sin. But,
in the end, it's a sorrow that finds no comfort. Because, it is a sorrow that falls
short of repentance and never knows the blessing of forgiveness, where true comfort
comes from.

Paul wrote of this sort of sorrow in 2 Corinthians 7. Paul had written to
these Corinthians a letter full of rebuke to them for their sinful behavior. This
letter pierced them to the heart and convicted them of sin and caused them to mourn. As
Paul received news back from the Corinthians that this letter had caused them much
grief and turmoil, he said this, ...

2 Corinthians 7:8-10
For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret
it--for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while--I now
rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the
point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in
order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is
according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to
salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

In other words, Paul said that he regretted the letter in that it caused
pain to the Corinthians. But, he didn't regret the letter in that it led them to
repentance. They turned from the sins that Paul had pointed out to them in their
letter. And so, it ended well.

The surgeon doesn't regret the pain made by the incision and the
recovery, when the patient is eventually healed. This week, I had an opportunity to
play surgeon. Our five year old daughter, Hanna, was playing on some old wood and
received a sliver that had ripped a hole through her jean shorts and had penetrated
into her skin. She came into the house crying because of the pain. My wife and I took
her into the bathroom to see what had happened. When we took off her shorts, we
instantly saw what was causing the pain. She had a piece of wood that was an inch and a
half long, which went into her skin and back out. It was quite obvious as to why it was
so painful to her. I took hold of the sliver and pulled it right out. At that moment,
the pain increased even more. But soon, the pain was gone as the sliver was
removed.

I did regret causing Hanna more pain than she was in. However, as I knew
the result, I did not regret it. The sliver was removed and she would feel much better
in a matter of moments. So also with the letter that Paul wrote. In the reading the
letter to the church, it caused much pain in some of the members, because they were
living in sin and Paul was convicting them of their unrighteousness. And yet, as they
repented of their sin, it demonstrated a right response to Paul's correction. As the
results were good in the end, Paul didn't regret the letter at all.

There is a sorrow that is according to the will of God (2 Cor. 7:10).
It's the sorrow that leads to repentance, which leads to life. But, in 2 Corinthians 7,
Paul alludes to a worldly sorrow. This is the sorrow that "produces death" (2 Cor.
7:10). This is the type of sorrow that Judas had. In our text this morning, we will see
three characteristics of worldly sorrow in the life of Judas.

Last week in our exposition of Matthew, we looked at Peter's sin of
denying Jesus. We found in that text a warning and a hope. It was a warning to us in
that we, like Peter, may easily fall into sin as he did. It was a hope to us in that
we, like Peter, may be restored and forgiven of our transgressions. The end result of
Peter is good news! God used him in mighty ways to build His church. But, with Judas,
there is only a warning. See, there is no good news with Judas. There is no window of
hope with him. Jesus called him, "the son of perdition" (John 17:12). He was under the
control of Satan (Luke 22:3). Jesus said that "It would have been good for [Judas] if
he had not been born" (Matt. 26:24). Judas is suffering eternally for his sin. His
story contains no happy ending.

And so, the question before us this morning is this: Are you a
Peter? Or, are you a Judas? I remember reading the story of a Chinese Christian, named
Wang Ming-Dao. He was born into a Christian family in China in 1900. His faith in the
Lord was strong. In 1924, he began a Bible study with a hand-full of believers near his
home in Peking. It quickly grew into a church which he pastored. In 1937, the
congregation built a building that could seat some 500 people for worship. But when the
Communist flag was finally hoisted over Peking in 1949, his life was dramatically
changed. The government cracked down on him. In 1955, he was imprisoned for preaching
the gospel. After a year in prison, he bent to the Communist demands and "agreed to
join the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and to preach on its behalf." But, in doing so,
Wang Ming-Dao felt that "he had betrayed his Lord and Master before the world" (p. 30).
Such a decision caused undue turmoil in his soul. It was said that he would wander the
streets near his home and say, "I am Peter. ... I am Peter." (thinking of he had denied
his Lord as Peter had done). But at times, in his greatest despair, he would even say,
"I am Judas. ... I am Judas." His Lord proved faithful to sustain him. Once released
from prison, he never preached on behalf of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. After a
few months when this became clear to the Communist government, they imprisoned him
again. He was sentenced to life in prison. His sufferings in prison were great as he
was often mistreated. But, in 1979, under new government in China, he was released,
having spent 24 years in prison. His testimony was this, "It was the Word of God that
gave me the very best moment of my life when I overcame my lies. ... If it were not for
God's protection I would be dead by now, but it was the Word of God that rescued me".
[1]

In His mind, he found comfort that he was a Peter, and not a Judas. Are
you a Peter? Or, are you a Judas? As you deal with your sin, do you deal with it like
Peter did or like Judas did?

Worldly sorrow ...1. Responds to
Consequences (verse 3).

Look at verse 3, "When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been
condemned, he felt remorse." It wasn't the sin of How often does this happen!

A man spends far too much time at the office, neglecting his wife at home
and the marriage turns sour. He may well be sorrowful, but sorrowful over the wrong
things. He may grieve the difficulties of his marriage, rather than in the sin of
loving his work too much. A boy is caught shoplifting from a store and brought down the
police station. He may well be sorrowful, but sorrowful over the wrong things. He may
grieve that his parents had to come and bail him out of jail. He may grieve that he
will be shamed in the family from now on. But, he may not grieve over shoplifting,
because he had done it before ... and he will do it again. A child is disciplined and
expresses much sorrow. But, it isn't the sin that makes them cry. It is the pain of the
discipline that moves their heart to sorrow.

I believe that this was the case with Judas. It wasn't his own sin that
led him to sorrow. It was the consequences of his sin that produced his remorse, and
not the sin itself. We get a sense from verse 3 that it was only when Judas actually
saw what His did that he felt remorse. As far as we know, Judas felt no remorse when he
agreed to betray Jesus (Matt. 26:14-16). As far as we know, Judas felt no remorse when
he actually betrayed Jesus, by kissing Him on the cheek as a friend would (Matt.
26:48). It was only when Judas actually saw that Jesus had been condemned to die that
he actually felt the pain of his sin. This is the point of the word, "When." It was
when he saw the effects of his sin that he finally responded.

I'm not sure what he was thinking. Perhaps he didn't think through all of
the implications of everything that he was doing when he betrayed Jesus. Perhaps he
didn't think that the Sanhedrin would actually find Jesus guilty. Perhaps he didn't
think that the Sanhedrin would put him to death. Perhaps he began to think for the very
first time about his reputation as a traitor. He knew how tax-gatherers were treated.
They were considered traitors against the Roman government. But Judas betrayed a man
who had always been faithful to him. Never had Jesus treated Judas badly. Never had
Jesus spoken wrongly to him. Never had Jesus sought for his harm. But, Judas turned his
back of all of that kindness and betrayed the supreme lover of his soul. His reputation
today is so bad that people don't name their children "Judas" anymore. There are a
bunch of Peters and Johns and Andrews running around this world. But, there aren't any
Judas's running around this world anymore. The name stopped with him.

We don't know exactly what came into the mind of Judas. But, we do know
that seeing Jesus condemned was too much for him to take. Those who wait until the
consequences come are often not really repentant.

I remember in my car one time listening to Christian radio. Along can a
radio program on the subject of pornography. A man and his wife was being interviewed
who had written some type of book on the subject from a Christian perspective. They had
counseled many marriages through this devastating sin. I remember an insightful
statement that they made. They said that the one who confesses his sin before being
discovered has a much higher probability of escaping its grasp than the one who
confesses after being caught in the sin. The simple reason for this is that when you
are finally found out, there are a host of other circumstances that come. It may very
well be that you are sorrowful for your turn of circumstances, rather than for your
sin. It may be that you are sad because of the shame that you brought upon yourself,
the damage that it has done to your marriage, the effects upon your children, or the
embarrassment that you will face.

If those things are what have cause the sorrow, then, it isn't sorrow for
sin. It is worldly sorrow. And such sorrow won't lead to repentance. Because such
sorrow isn't for sin. It is for the consequences of the sin. And there is a world of
difference between the two.

And though we are dealing with the worldly sorrow of an unrepentant soul
in our text, the application filters down to us in the sins we commit everyday. Are you
sorrowful for your sin before a holy God? Or, are you merely sorrowful for the
consequences of your sin? Godly sorrow responds to sin. But, worldly sorrow responds to
consequences. Let's look at another characteristic of worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow,
...

2. May Look Like Repentance (verses 3-4).

Those who have worldly sorrow may feel bad about what they have done.
They may confess their what they had done was wrong. They may seek to make restitution
for the wrong. But all of this may fall short of true repentance. In the case of Judas,
he did all of these things, but failed to do the most important thing: repent.

1) Worldly sorrow may feel remorse.

Look at how Matthew describes the feelings of Judas to his sin. Matthew
writes that "he felt remorse." Your translation may say something different. It may say
that Judas "changed his mind" (ESV), "seized with remorse" (NIV), or "was remorseful"
(NKJV). I think that all of these translations are good ones. This word, translated in
the New American Standard, "he felt remorse," signifies an inner attitude of sorrow and
regret. It directs its attention upon the emotions. It directs its attention upon a
past decision that wasn't such a good one. This is the word that Paul used when talking
about regretting the letter that he had written. He said that he didn't regret it in
that it was truth. But, he said that he did regret it in that it caused them to grieve.
It focuses upon Paul's feelings -- His emotions.

When Judas saw the results of his sin, he was grieved in his heart. It
affected his feelings. It made him sorrowful. But it fell short of true repentance. It
looked a lot like repentance. When someone repents of their sin, it often comes with a
flood of emotions, with the realization of everything that was done. Worldly sorrow may
produce feelings of remorse, and thus, look like repentance. But, in the end, it will
be found wanting.

2) Worldly sorrow may confess sin.

The feelings of Judas led him to confess his sin. In verse 4 we read that
Judas came back to the chief priests and elders and confessed to them, saying, "I have
sinned by betraying innocent blood." What an interesting thing this is! Judas is
confessing his sin! He isn't hiding it! He isn't seeking to sweep it under the rug. It
is open for the world to see! But his confession didn't mean much. Oh, sure, he got the
facts right. He testified to the innocence of Jesus. He confessed His own sin in
betraying Jesus. But in the end, he knew nothing of forgiveness.

I believe that his confession was more for us than it ever was for Judas.
If anyone was able to testify to the sinfulness of Jesus, it was Judas. He was one of
the disciples. He was an intimate companion of Jesus. Who knows your sin better than
those who are close to you? It's your brothers and sisters who know your sin. It's
parents and children who see things as they really are. It is your close friend who
sees your sin. With Jesus, it would have been on of His disciples that knew His sin
better than anyone else. Additionally who was more willing to witness against Jesus
than Judas? He agreed to betray him in the garden. Certainly, he would be willing to
testify against Him at His trial. But, Judas was silent. Why was he silent? Because
Judas could find no fault with Jesus. His silence at the trial and his confession
before the religious leaders give great testimony for us of the sinlessness of Jesus.
He was a spotless lamb, who was offered up for our sins.

But, here is the great point for us this morning: Confession of sin
doesn't mean repentance! Now, it may mean repentance, but not necessarily. It may only
mean that the sinner has been cornered and has no other option, but to admit the truth.
When a criminal stands before the judge and hears the charges against him, he is asked
how he pleads. The criminal can easily say, "guilty" and have no regret about his
actions at all. In a similar way, a sinner can confess his sins, but have no heart of
repentance. Because, a repentant heart is a change of heart that will lead to a change
in behavior.

I don't believe that Judas' heart was ever changed in this matter. We see
no signs of him seeking to make things right with Jesus, whom he had betrayed.

3) Worldly sorrow may make restitution.

Notice what Judas did. He took action. His confession went beyond mere
words. He tried to make up for his sin. He "returned the thirty pieces of silver to the
chief priests and elders" (verse 3). The sense that we get is that these were the exact
same pieces of silver than had been given to him. He hadn't yet gone out and spent this
money. He knew that it wasn't quite right that he would have the money, and so he tried
to return it.

Perhaps Judas remembered back to the time when Zaccheus was converted.
Perhaps you remember that Zaccheus was a chief tax-collector, and thus, was very rich.
Jesus had come to his home. When Zaccheus repented of his sin, he told Jesus, "Behold,
Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of
anything, I will give back four times as much" (Luke 19:8). Judas acted in much the
same way. It wouldn't have been difficult for Judas to remember this event. When you
look closely into the chronology of events, Jesus visited Zaccheus shortly before
entering Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. It was probably no longer than a week ago that
these things took place.

Judas knew that the money in his hand was defiled money. He experienced
the truth of Proverbs 10:2, "Ill-gotten gains do not profit." He had received it by
betraying the Lord. The religious leaders also knew that the thirty pieces of silver
was defiled money. In verse 6 we read that they called the money, "the price of
blood."

Now, there is nothing wrong with returning the money that you had
taken wrongfully from others. In fact, I encourage you to return any money that you
have stolen. This past week, I heard a friend of mine tell the story of a pre-Christian
experience that he had. He was working at a lumber yard, loading cars with lumber.
During the month of December, the lumberyard sold Christmas trees. Quite often the
customers would ask those who worked in the yard if they were to pay them or pay inside
the store. On a few occasions, he confessed that he accepted the money outside and put
it right into his pocket. He said that he was never caught. At one point, he used the
money to scalp some terrific seats at a rock concert. When he gave his life to Christ
he sought the Lord's forgiveness, but also felt led by the Spirit to make restitution.
So 10 years later he marched into that same hardware store, explained his testimony to
the manager, placed $150 dollars in his hand and asked for his forgiveness.
[2]

In many ways, this is what Judas was doing. But, Judas was wrong. Not in
the things he did outwardly, but because of what was going on inside of him. The reason
we know that Judas was wrong is that he was seeking to make restitution for his evil
deed, so as to calm his conscience. The Christian who makes restitution doesn't do so
because of a guilty conscience. Because, before the Lord, his conscience is at ease.
The Christian makes restitution because it is the right thing to do.

But we know that this wasn't the case with Judas. His conscience was
never calmed. When they refused to take the money, Judas "threw the pieces of silver
into the sanctuary" (verse 5). This isn't the action of a calmed conscience. Neither
was his suicide that took place shortly after this.

What Judas did here is what is often called, "penance." Penance is an
attempt to make up for a wrong that you did. The idea is that you want to show how bad
that you feel about what you did. So, you do something to show that you really mean it.
It is a means by which you might be helped to calm your conscience. The Roman Catholic
Church today practices this very thing. If you commit a sin, you should go and confess
it to a priest, who will assign you certain duties to do. Often, the priest will simply
tell those who come to confession to recite a given number of prayers, "say 10 Hail
Mary's and 10 Our Fathers." In doing so, the priest has been given authority from the
church to assure the parishioner that the temporal punishment that is due to you will
be removed. You will spend a few less years in purgatory as a result of your deeds.
Such a practice is not Biblical.

Before you jump on the Catholics as having it so wrong, realize that this
practice is alive and well in the Protestant Church also. Oh, it's not outward. Nor do
we talk about it. But, there is something within all of us that will seek to "make up"
for our sins. We naturally want to do something good for God to show that we are really
sorry for our sin. "God, I will be faithful in my devotions this week." "God, I will go
to church this weekend." "God, I will read my religious book, rather than watching
television tonight." We can look forward to our promised righteousness in the future.
Or, we look back to our past righteousness and seek to explain to God of our own
righteousness.

C. J. Mahaney said it very well. Preaching on the subject of pride, he
said, "There is this daily tendency and temptation to seek to receive forgiveness from
God, justification before God, and acceptance by God through our obedience to God. ...
Is it not a daily tendency ... to assume that when I sin at some point tomorrow, that
in order to compensate for that sin, I will now make certain pledges and promises to
God in order to quiet my conscience. ... I guarantee at some point tomorrow, you will
do this. You will seek to draw comfort and confidence from your obedience to God."

He then warns, "Be careful about using the means of grace as a means of
merit. When I say 'means of grace,' I mean all of the wonderful spiritual disciplines
that I only want to encourage and promote. ... As I devote myself to the study of God's
word, it is possible for me to turn that means of experiencing grace into a means of
merit. And to pray more confidently, simply because I have devoted myself devotionally
to an hour of studying the Scripture."

Mahaney suggests that whenever you finish any sort of devotional
exercise that you "close your Bible, and make this declaration to God, 'Lord, thank you
for how I have benefited from my study of Your Word. But, I want to declare to you that
that practice is not a means of meriting forgiveness, justification, or acceptance. I
can never through my obedience merit what only Christ could achieve in light of your
holiness and my sinfulness." [3]

Do you know what he is talking about? It rings a truth in my own heart.
How easy is it for me to look at my own diligence in following hard after God and to
think that it will in some way balance the sin that I do. Do you feel this tendency as
well? In doing so, we are just like Judas, who was seeking to make up for his sin, by
returning the money in an effort to calm his conscience.

Worldly sorrow will seek to make restitution, and just may look like
repentance. But, it fails to deal with the inner conscience, which is the key to
repentance. The chief priests and elders would have nothing to do with it. They said in
verse 4, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!." In other words, they were saying,
"What is done is done. This is your money. You deal with it as you see fit." Sadly, he
followed their advice exactly as they suggested it. He sought to deal with it
himself.

Verse 5 tells us what he did. "He threw the pieces of silver into the
sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself." This shows us the third
characteristic of worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow, ...

3. Ends in death (verses 5-10).

The result of the sin of Judas was that it ended in him taking his own
life. Now, I'm not saying that worldly sorrow always produces suicide. But, I am saying
that worldly sorrow is on the path to death. This is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians
7:10, "the sorrow of the world produces death."

There are two paths in this life. You are walking on one of them. You
will either walk on the path that leads to life and immortality. Or, you will walk on
the path that leads to death and destruction for eternity. The path of worldly sorrow
is the path of sin. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
The only way to remove such a sentence of death is through genuine repentance. It is a
turning from one path to the other path. This is the message of the Bible: repentance
and forgiveness. Repentance is a turning from sin and a turning to God. It is a turning
from trusting your own righteousness to trusting in the righteousness of another.
Genuine repentance leads to life. But worldly sorrow only leads to death.

How appropriate it is that our text ends with five verses talking about
death and burial. In verse 6, the chief priests picked up the pieces of silver and
said, "It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of
blood." They weren't about to take the silver and put it into the offering box in the
back of the room. They knew that it was defiled money. They called it "the price of
blood."

Rather than contributing the funds to the needs of the temple, they
purchased a field, which they transformed into a cemetery. So stained was this money
that they wouldn't even bury Jews in this field. It would be for the Gentiles alone. So
stained was this money that it even influenced the name of the field which was bought.
The name changed from the "Potter's Field," to the "Field of Blood," which remained its
name for years. Most scholars believe that Matthew wrote his gospel some thirty years
after the crucifixion. This cemetery still testified to the wickedness of the religious
leaders. This is the point of Matthew writing that the name had been changed "to this
day" (verse 8).

They knew that the money they had given to Judas was used to betray
innocent blood. This is yet another testimony to the innocence of Jesus.

All of this was in the prophetic plan of God. Consider verses 9-10, "Then
that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, 'And they
took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the
sons of Israel; and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed
me.'"

There is much discussion in the commentaries about this quotation.
It has led many to believe that the Bible isn't inerrant. For, it seems to some that
the wording of this quote comes from the prophet Zechariah, rather than Jeremiah.
Zechariah is the only prophet to mention the thirty pieces of silver. And yet, the
parallels to Jeremiah 19 are many. [4]

Jeremiah was told by the Lord to purchase "a potter's earthenware," to
gather elders and the chief priests together, and to tell them of what the Lord was
going to do to Judah. Jeremiah was to tell of the great calamity that would take
place.

Jeremiah was instructed to say, "Hear the word of the
LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants
of Jerusalem: thus says the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold I am about to bring a calamity upon this place, at
which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. Because they have forsaken Me
and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods that
neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because
they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high
places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which
I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind; therefore, behold, days
are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when
this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the
valley of Slaughter.'" (Jeremiah 19:3-6).

What a good picture this is of the end of worldly sorrow. It is death,
destruction, burial, and disaster. How important it is for us to sorrow for the right
things in the right way. When we sin, may we fill our hearts with godly sorrow and not
with worldly sorrow.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church
on August 21, 2005 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rvbc.cc.

[1]
This story was taken from Faith Cook's excellent book entitled, Singing in the
Fire, which tells of fourteen Christians who faced tremendous difficulties in
their lives, and yet, rejoiced through them. The quotes were taken from pages
30-32.

[3]
C. J. Mahaney delivered this message at the PDI Leadership Conference in 2002. The
thrust of this quote can also be found in his wonderful book, "The Cross-Centered
Life."

[4]
Many solutions to this difficulty have been given. I will propose several of them and
then give a good perspective of this knotty problem.

1. Some believe that these words refer to Zechariah 11:12-13. They
point out how only Zechariah mentions the thirty pieces of silver. Those who believe
this come up with several solutions solving Matthew's mention of Jeremiah.

a. Matthew is referring to the scroll in which the prophet Zechariah
was written. Since this scroll is headed by Jeremiah, the entire scroll can be
called by the title, "Jeremiah."
b. Jeremiah actually wrote these words, but it was only Zechariah who actually
penned them. (Acts 20:35 is used as an example, where Paul penned some otherwise
unrecorded words of Jesus).
c. Jeremiah wrote these words, but they are now lost. (See Jude 14 for en example
of this).
d. The word, "Jeremiah," was inserted by an ignorant transcriber. They claim that
the original text simply says, "The prophet."

2. Others believe that Matthew was referring to Jeremiah. They point
out that Jeremiah frequently deals with potters (Jer. 13:5; 17:1-11; 19:1-13;
32:6-15). This view has several difficulties, the largest of which seeks to explain
the "thirty pieces," which is nowhere mentioned in Jeremiah.

3. Others believe that Matthew fused together the words of Jeremiah and
Zechariah into one quote, which is done elsewhere in Scripture (i.e. Mark 1:2-3,
which pulls from both Isaiah and Malachi). The reason for claiming that it comes from
Jeremiah, is simply one of the importance of Jeremiah over Zechariah in fulfillment.
The lack of word-by-word quotation is best explained by D. A. Carson, who says,
"Matthew sees in Jeremiah 19 and Zechariah 11 not merely a number of verbal and
thematic parallels to Jesus' betrayal but a pattern of apostasy and rejection that
must find its ultimate fulfillment in the rejection of Jesus, who was cheaply valued,
rejected by the Jews, and whose betrayal money was put to a purpose that pointed to
the destruction of the nation" (Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 8, p. 566).

J. C. Ryle provides us with a good perspective: "A question of this
sort, which has puzzled so many interpreters, is not likely to be settled at this
date" (Matthew: Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, p. 274).